We must "give" this environment to the children. This requires deep trust and commitment on our part. For many of us, the environment remains "ours" and we allow the children to use it. I don't believe this is what Montessori meant. I think that once we have created this environment, sufficient to answer the development needs of all the children, beautiful so that it attracts the children to use it, uncluttered and pristine so that the children are not hampered by unnecessary stimulation, then we must step back. We must remove our egos from our creation and truly give it to the children. We have supposedly created this space for the children but, for so many of us, it is so difficult to really "give it to them".
-- From "The NAMTA Journal Vol. 30, No. 1"
